A top Thai disease researcher this morning said that a new mutation of the coronavirus the United Kingdom suspects arrived from Thailand is not a “variant of concern” like those associated with the UK, India and Africa.
Thiravat Hemachudha, a neurologist and head of Chulalongkorn University’s center for emerging diseases, said this morning that the “Thai variant” that UK health officials are now studying is only a “variant of interest.”
Yesterday, the United Kingdom said it was investigating the virus variant they believed had come from Thailand.
Public Health England reported that 109 cases of the new “Thai strain,” identified as C.36.3, had been detected and since “dispersed” across the country. They said the variant had first been detected in Thailand in patients who had traveled from Egypt.
The UK officials, however, said there was not yet any evidence that the variant was more severe or resistant to the vaccines currently deployed. They were carrying out lab tests to study the strains.
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